Light-bulb moments

When you were a little kid thinking about what you wanted to be when you grew up, didn’t you imagine yourself as a golf cart transportation mogul?

Neither did Dalton “Bron” Doyle, yet today he rents out 50 of the little vehicles from Bron’s Beach Carts in Port Aransas and is aiming for 85. How did this happen?

It isn’t so much a case study in laborious business planning as it is a story of getting an idea and running with it. In 2010, Bron was in Dallas, working for his sister. The Dallas Cowboys had a new stadium with acres of parking and that gave Bron an idea: he’d shuttle people around the large parking lot in a golf cart for tips. This proved to be a popular service so he expanded it to working events. He expanded further into new territory and worked the Houston rodeo and cook-offs.

At Spring Break he surfed Google, seeking out more events where he could ferry people around in golf carts. He happened on a report about the ordinance that had just passed in Port Aransas making the city one of the few in Texas where golf carts could be operated on city streets. It was another light-bulb moment for Bron. At first he thought to provide the same shuttle service that he already had but decided instead to buy golf carts and rent them to people to drive themselves.

He started with eight carts. Every single rental was important to the young business so Bron would deliver the carts to the renters and bike back to his small rental lot. For the Harvest Moon Regatta that year he rented out four carts. By 2013 he was looking at renting out ten times that many to the HMR sailors. On a Saturday in season, Bron’s Beach Carts can manage to rent out every one of its 50 carts and Bron is planning to enlarge his fleet.

A supportive golf cart dealer in Corpus Christi who gave good terms helped Bron’s business to flourish. Bron also got help from the landlord Cindy Johnson from whom he rents lot space. A handshake deal enabled him to move from his small spot to his current larger location on G Street. Her faith in him was justified as his business has not only prospered, it’s grown. Bron’s Beach Carts enjoys a lot of repeat business and he now has a sno cone stand too.

Now full time in Port Aransas, Bron is here to stay. “Port Aransas is growing,” he says. “It’s a great place where you have a marina and the beach and restaurants and shops. And it’s a unique experience to see that all from a golf cart. It’s part of the lifestyle. It’s how to enjoy Port A.”

I got a chance to check that out for myself the Saturday of the Port Aransas Art Center ArtAbout. On a beautiful sunny October day with Chamber-of-Commerce weather I went from gallery to art studio in one of Bron’s Beach Carts. My friends and I attracted lots of waves and smiles. It’s hard not to smile at a bunch of happy people wheeling around town in a colorful beach cart. Admittedly some of the amused looks we got may have been due to the fact that we were all dressed up like knights and ladies from some medieval court. Why were we riding around Port Aransas in gowns and chain mail? Well, it was the ArtAbout and I’m an artist. I couldn’t very well take the art walk to my books so with a little help from my friends I brought “The Lost King” and “The King’s Ransom” to the art walk.

By the way, I’ll start writing “The King’s Redress,” Book Three in the series, next month during National Novel Writing Month 2013. You can find out more about National Novel Writing month at the Web site at www.nanowrimo.org and for more information about my novels, visit my author page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DevorahFoxAuthor.

For more information about Bron’s Beach Carts, visit the Web site at www. bronsbeachcarts.com or find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Beachcartrentals. Call 361-290-7143 or send an email to brondoyle@yahoo.com. Or, stop by 314 E. Ave. G. They’re open every day in summer from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. the rest of the year. I’ll see you there.

About Dee

"What if?" Those two words all too easily send Devorah Fox spinning into flights of fancy. Best-selling author of “The Redoubt,” voted one of 50 Self-Published Books Worth Reading 2016, and three other books in The Bewildering Adventures of King Bewilliam epic historical fantasy series. She also co-authored the contemporary thriller, Naked Came the Sharks, with Jed Donellie. She contributed to Masters of Time: a SciFi/Fantasy Time Travel Anthology and has several Short Reads to her name, including Murder by the Book, A Mystery Mini. Born in Brooklyn, New York, she now lives in The Barefoot Palace on the Texas Gulf Coast with rescued tabby cats ... and a dragon named Inky. Visit the “Dee-Scoveries” blog at http://devorahfox.com.